Against the Tide
by Grace-Logan
Summary: Brian goes missing, the name of the story has nothing to do with the story, it's just the song I was listening to when I wrote it, it's a good song.
1. Chapter 1

Team Toretto were lounging around Dom's house when they first heard the news, the shock was immense, it shook them to the core, why did they have to watch the news today of all days?

"Early this morning officer Brian O'conner was reported missing, if anyone has seen him or has any information as to his whereabouts please ring the number at the bottom of the screen" As Jesse spoke up everyone turned to him making him go a little red in the face, "B-Brian's not good at keeping out of trouble, I bet he'll turn up sooner or later leaving a trail of destruction after him as always." Jesse smiled nervously and the others chuckled at the statement, They hadn't known him for long before he left them but they knew that anywhere he went disaster of every kind followed soon after, all they had to do was wait and he'd show up on his own, it'd just take a few weeks is all.

Three months later and there was still nothing, underground or not, nobody knew where the hell Brian had gone…

Four months and most of the search parties had given up and gone on to their next job…

Five months, there was a total of nine people still looking for him…

Dom and his crew, Tej, Suki and Roman were the only ones left…

Six months, he was presumed dead…

Everyone had given up…

Eight months…

nothing…


	2. Chapter 2

It was the middle of the night when the low rumble of a car engine stopped in front of Dom's house, nobody awoke from the sound of the drivers door slamming shut as he got out and made his way to the closest window of the house, one the intruder knew was never locked for cases just like his, he had a feeling he was crossing a line entering the house without letting anyone know but he was just to tired to care. Climbing through the window the intruder could make out human shaped lumps on the lounge room floor, he smiled slightly letting out a sigh of relief and made his way over to the empty couch before falling on top of it and passing out from pure exhaustion, he had never been so relieved to be somewhere he knew about before, granted he'd probably be killed in the morning just for being there but he'd cross that bridge when he came to it.

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The loud incessant snoring is what woke those sleeping in the lounge room that morning, confusion reigned as they tried to figure out where it was coming from, no one out of Vincent, Jesse or Leon had the idea to look behind them for two minutes as they worked out who was awake before realising their was an extra person in the room with them. They each jumped into a standing position and spun towards the couch…

They were speechless…

Laying on Dom's couch, snoring so loudly they were sure Dom would be storming down the stairs in a few seconds, was none other than…

"BUSTER/BRIAN!" Vince, Jesse and Leon yelled together, Brian jolted awake as if he had been electrocuted, eyes wide and on guard as he searched for what had woken him in completely the wrong direction the yell came from. It took his sleep addled brain a few seconds to catch up to what was happening and he spun around, coming face to face with Vince, Jesse and Leon as Dom, Mia and Letty bolted down the stairs to see what the yelling was about.

Silence fell as everyone stared at Brian, Dom, Mia and Letty were frozen in their places under the archway that lead into the lounge, Brian scratched the back of his head nervously and smiled, "Yo, what's up."

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It took a total of three seconds for what Brian had said to them to sink in, Vince was the closest to Brian and was the first to react, grabbing Brian by the hair he proceeded to mush Brian's head into the carpet, "Son of a bitch Brian," 'Oww stop!' " you disappear for eight months" 'Vince stop it ow' "And the only thing you can say is 'Yo, what's up'" Vince does a stupid imitation of Brian to emphasise his point as he doesn't stop smooshing Brian's face into the carpet, "Are you fucking kidding me you little shit? Where the fuck were you? And why the hell are you hear now?" Vince yells at him, Dom sighs and goes to pull Vince off Brian who is hanging upside-down from the couch.

"Vince let 'im go." Dom orders, Vince pulls back his hand and steps away from Brian who is glaring at him, "Gee Vince if I knew I was gonna get such a warm welcome I would've come earlier, I'm just gonna leave then." Brian spat back sarcastically as he got up and stepped to ward the back door.

"Wait Brian!" Dom calls out, against his better judgment Brian stops and turns back to Dom, "That's not what he meant, geez you scared us half to death with that disappearing act Brian the world thinks you're dead, eight months is a long time, what the hell happened to you?" Dom asked concern evident in his voice, Brian looked out the window he came in so he could avoid looking at everyone else as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"I don't wanna talk about it." He replied lowly, an awkward silence fell between the two until Mia cleared her throat wanting to get rid of the awkward atmosphere she had to admit it was intimidating to have all of their attention focused solely on her, "Why don't we have breakfast and catch up a little." Mia offered with a nervous smile, she got nods from all around and hurried off to the kitchen with Letty, Leon and Jesse trailing after her…

Dom and Vince turned to Brian giving him a searching look, from his dusty black sneakers to his ripped and dirty shirt, he was a mess, they could see blood stains and bruises through the holes in the clothes he was wearing, they covered him from head to toe, if they were curious about him before they were dying to know now, Brian smiled and walked past them into the kitchen leaving Vince and Dom alone to listen to the increasing noise from the kitchen as everyone joked around and welcomed Brian back into the family.

Vince turned to Dom and gave him a knowing look, "What do you think Dom, reckon 'is problems are comin' with him this time?" Vince asked gruffly, Dom looked over his shoulder taking in the kitchen scene of everyone smiling and happy for the first time in months, their laughter wasn't subdued or non existent anymore, but Dom caught the brooding look on Brian's face before he was roped into helping Mia cook.

"Keep an eye out Vince, anyone new on the scene I wanna know about, it's either gonna be peaceful or a shit storm." Dom replied before going to join everyone in the kitchen, Vince sighed and ran a hand through his hair, he could practically see his peaceful life jumping off the cliff right now, he sadly waved goodbye to the lazy days he'd been granted, he had a feeling it was gonna be the latter of the two options, it was never peaceful with Brian around.


	3. Chapter 3

Cooking with Mia, joking around with Leon and Jesse, sitting around the table with everyone, it was nice. It was peaceful and easy, he felt like he was home again. Even getting stuck with cleaning duty after breakfast could quill the undeniable happiness he felt being back in the Toretto household.

Everyone was off doing their own thing when Dom stuck his head into the kitchen just as Brian was finishing the dishes and his conversation with Mia. Apparently a lot had happened since he'd left. The team was no longer out for Brian's blood for being a cop. Mia and Letty were both dating guys. Mia had found a nice guy in her class and Letty had found a wicked driver who rivaled Vince in skill, they weren't officially together yet so Letty still slept with Dom when they both wanted a fuck with no commitment, but the two were getting there. Just very, very slowly.

Brian was happy for all of them and glad for the normal conversation, he was a little sad when Dom stared Mia down and she left to find something else to do.

Dom and Brian stood in an awkward silence until they heard Mia yelling at Leon and Jesse for starting a small fire out the back before Dom spoke.

"Where have you been Brian?" Dom asked. Brian swore he could almost see the concern dripping off those words.

"I've been around." Brian replied casually shrugging his shoulders. Dom sighed and gave him the look. It wasn't the look that said 'tell me now or I'll break your face' it was the look that said 'even if you won't tell me now, I'll get it from you eventually.' Brian wanted to tell him everything that happened, where he'd been the last eight months, who he'd been with and why. He desperately wanted to tell at least someone he could trust. But he didn't feel like it was the right time. Nobody needed to know nor did he feel comfortable revealing some of the more… risqué details of his little trip through hell just yet.

"Brian… It's good to have you back." Dom seemed to change what he was going to say mid sentence, it left Brian feeling a little numb before the words he spoke instead registered with him and he smiled, most of the tension winding in his body zipping out in an instant.

"But go take a shower, you smell and look like shit. I'll get you some clothes but call me before you get dressed. I wanna see how messed up you are before you try to play it off." Dom ordered with a small smile.

"Yeah, yeah. It's nothing too bad, just a few scrapes and bruises. Nothing too serious." Brian said making sure to walk extra close to Dom who wrinkled his nose in disgust and lightly pushed him away. "It's good to be back Dom." Brian muttered as he trudged up the stairs with Dom trailing along behind him not realizing that Dom had heard him until he felt Dom smack him on the back in response.

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It was so good to finally be having a warm (boiling hot) shower. Steam filled the bathroom and seeped under the door like he was in a sauna. Brian loved it. He sat down in the bottom of the shower and let the water wash away all the blood, dirt and mysterious substances from his body. The water running all manner of dirty colours down the drain as it pounded into his back. He sighed happily, he'd always liked the water pressure in Dom's shower. Though he was absolutely positive it was a custom made enhancement. You just could not get this type of pressure from normal showers.

A knock on the bathroom door made Brian jump, he reached for the soap as he figured it was probably someone trying to tell him to hurry the hell up before they decided to turn off the hot water.

"Brian, you all good in there?" Dom's muffled voice called through the door. Brian grunted and washed himself off quickly, unfortunately reopening some rather painful cuts along his ribs and back.

Dom knocked again as Brian turned off the shower and sighed with irritation.

"I'm fine Dom." Brian replied wrapping a towel around his waist and swinging open the door. Dom raised an eyebrow at him as he emerged from the steam tumbling out the door. He'd wondered why it was so hard to see in there. Brian smiled sheepishly at Dom.

"I like my showers hot." He offered, Dom continued to take him in, in silence. From his normally curly hair falling straight weighed down with water to the towel barely staying on his golden tanned hips to the water droplets running down his body to the burns, cuts and bruises that littered his skin head to foot. Dom did not look pleased, especially as he watched a small trickle of blood soak into the towel.

"Brian, you will be telling me what happened. Whether it's now or later, you will be telling me."

"Yeah. There's just some things I can't tell anyone at the moment."

Dom sighed and pushed Brian back into the bathroom. Now that all the steam was gone and they could finally see clearly Dom could finally do what he'd brought everything for.

Dom made sure to shut the door behind him and lock it so no one would walk in before grabbing Brian's towel and taking it off him.

"Dom!"

"Relax Brian, it ain't nothing I haven't seen before." Dom replied not even looking at Brian as he set out everything he'd need to clean Brian up. Brian backed into the shower door and tried to control his rapidly beating heart. Dom was just trying to help him, that's all. Clean up his wounds, get him dressed and they'd be out of there before he knew it. The sound of the door locking echoed through his mind as Dom turned to him and frowned. Brian could give a good guess as to what had made him look that way.

Brian was pressed up against the shower door, tense and breathing quickly, as if he'd just run a race.

"Brian?" Dom approached him slowly, despite there only being a little over a meter of room between them. Brian shut his eyes and turned his head down as memories he'd previously had under strong lock down fluttered into his mind.

_Dirty cement walls, blood covered floor. The manacles around his wrists and ankles clinked against the ground._

"Brian."

_On his knees in the old style redwood office the glowing hot poker was brought closer from the fire. "You will tell us everything." Faceless men surrounding him._

"Brian, calm down."

Brian flinched as he felt hands on his shoulders.

_The unknown hands of his captures roamed his body as an unknown language reached his ears. He couldn't see them._

"Brian, it's ok."

Something else, no, someone else was muttering, it wasn't the warm, deep voice of the panicked person trying to get his attention. Who was it? Where was it coming from? Who…

_Gunshots snapped through the air._

_Pain, excruciating pain. Pain beyond belief. He couldn't move. They'd strapped him down. It was cold. The knife that opened his skin was hot, too hot. What was going on? He couldn't hear anything? His eyes weren't responding! _

_The cliff, the building in the middle of nowhere. Sharp pain in the back of his head. _

_Nothing…_

"BRIAN!"

Brian slapped Dom's hands away and sung to the floor, holding his head in his hands and taking deep shaky breaths to calm himself. Dom squat in front of him a few feet away and stared at him.

"Brian, are-."

Frenzied knocks on the door cut of Dom as five voices zipped through the door at once.

"We're all good here, don't worry about it." Dom called back. As everyone slowly trickled away from the door Dom looked back to Brian and sighed. At least he looked calmer than before.

"Are you ok?"

Brian looked up at Dom as if he were an idiot.

"Does anything that just happened point towards me being ok?" Brian shot back in a shaky voice. Dom shook his head and stood up, holding a hand out to help Brian up before moving him over to the sink. They fell into silence as Dom began cleaning him up and covering every scratch, cut and burn on his body.

"Jesus Brian."

"I know Dom, believe me I know. Don't tell." Brian pleaded, his head hung in shame.

"I won't. But damn it, what the fuck happened?" Dom spat out angrily. Brian smirked and breathed out a harsh sarcastic laugh.

"I took a trip around the world."


End file.
